Kraken by China Mieville

So, I liked The City and the City. It was thoughtful and the central premise was interesting (although quite close in nature to Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde). As a procedural detective story and a postmodern morality play (i.e. morality itself was under ther microscope) it read well and was tightly plotted.

I found Kraken hard work. And please, if you've read some of my other reviews you'll know it's not because i shy away from difficult books. It was hard because of three things.

Firstly he engages in pointless neoligism. In a book about cults, many of which are less bizarre than those found in the real world but rather than fall back on the words that exist already he sets about creating new ones. Whilst interesting and a demonstration of his own cleverness it's kind of disappointing that more respect wasn't accorded to the real source material.

Second, he can't decide if the fantastical elements are real or not and so vacillates between giving them real substance and then calling them for fakery. Well, you have to decide, in a book where a giant squid could be god and real 'magical' powers are exhibited by characters you can't then claim that they aren't real at the same time. This is a big problem and undermines the entire idea of a secret london based upon the crypto cultic.

Finally, his ending is cheap beyond belief. A minor character with no development is crucial to plot resolution and does so in the awful 'star trek' widget manner for no discernable reason (or at least the reason given is flimsy beyond credibility). There are rules to telling stories. Sure contingency is a great concept to explore within the story but making the story contingent? Does. not. work.

This book was a huge disappointment. It's brimming with ideas but they're undisciplined and out of control and in the end it feels like they took control of the author rather than the other way around. And on a personal note...creationism is the cheapest plot device EVER. I felt as soiled by that element as if I'd spend ten minutes reading a guardian cif feedback on an article by someone who discusses faith. Enough already.